


October, 2999

by ussnicole



Series: Welcome to Suburbia [14]
Category: Crown The Empire
Genre: Conflict, Future, Gen, Maniacal Me, Memories of a Broken Heart, Military, Millennia - Freeform, Minor Character Deaths, Songfic, Suburbia, The Fallout, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2019-01-31 14:18:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12683613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ussnicole/pseuds/ussnicole
Summary: Warfare in Suburbia.David never expected his life to end like this.





	1. Millennia

David walked down the middle of the street, staring at the scene around him in horror. It was near eleven at night and the sky was pitch black, but the streets were lit brightly by fires raging in shells of buildings and old broken down cars on the sides of the road. He had only been gone a year, and now he hardly recognized what was once 8th Avenue. He passed Parkway Drive and then Lime Street, both of which were in the same state as 8th. Gunfire echoed in the darkness and he picked up his pace.

When the war had broken out, David’s parents had sent him out of the city for safety. He stopped hearing from them after two months, but he wouldn’t turn 18 until another ten and so could not come back by himself. Seeing the state of the city, he feared the worst.

Reaching South Broadway, David turned left towards Thames Street. At the corner of Thames and South Broadway, he ran stealthily up to a rundown building – in earlier, more peaceful times, it had once been a music venue and club. Knocking carefully at the door, he whispered a password and then was admitted. As soon as he stepped inside he was rushed by four boys his age.

“David!” they yelled, crowding around him and slapping him on the back. There was Andy, David’s best and oldest friend; they had grown up together on Christie Road. Next were Benn and Brandon, who he had met in school. They had been cadets at the Academy before the war began; David wondered if the Academy was still there at all. Hayden and Brent followed behind, clapping him on the shoulder and grinning. They had been friends with David’s older brother Raphael, who was in the militia; he had been one of the first casualties of the war.

“What’s the news? How is the war going?” David had not failed to notice that they were all in militia uniforms, the black and grey camouflage fatigues and bulletproof vests more than familiar to him. His family had always been military oriented, and he had been excited to join on his 15th birthday when he was finally of age. Unfortunately, his question caused the mood in the room to fall, dropping to a somber quietness. David nodded in understanding, eyes dropping and then looking to Andy.

“Where can I sign up?”


	2. The Fallout

It began to pour rain as the night wore on, pounding into the roof of the building where David’s friends had made their camp. There were many young people there, dressed in uniform and carrying weapons, but not many people over the age of 30. David figured that they had already been called into service, and that this was the second draft. He began to worry, however, when he saw a twelve year old boy handing out automatic rifles from the armory. He glanced at Andy with a confused look on his face but Andy just shook his head, mouthing _‘I’ll tell you later’_ and nodding for him to keep walking.

Since David was woefully behind on the status of the war, Andy and Brent offered to take him on a reconnaissance mission in the safer part of the city. As they crept along the empty streets, Brent and Andy recounted stories from the battles they had been in or heard about while updating David on everything that had happened since he was sent away.

What they didn’t expect on their recon mission was a bomb to explode down the street and militia members to flood out of 4th Street, running towards them. An older man saw them and aimed his gun at them but Andy yelled some code word that David did not catch and they do not get taken out by friendly fire. Holding their weapons cautiously, the three boys joined the crowd of soldiers who continued to retreat down South Broadway towards Thames.

Enemy fighters began to appear out of the rubble of the building that exploded, shooting down the street at them, and they took cover behind burning cars and building fronts to return fire. They fired back and forth for what seemed to be hours; by the time the enemy retreated back the way they came, the sun began to rise on a new day.

The daylight only illuminated the desolation; almost all of the skyscrapers that used to stand tall against the horizon have been either reduced to piles of rock and twisted metal or are burned out and shells of their former glory. Fires burned perpetually, filling the sky with smoke and creating a hazy, suffocating cloud over the city.

As Andy, Brent, and David staggered back to the hideout on Thames, they were overcome with fatigue. In the confusion of the night, they did not even realize that they had retreated past Thames to 8th Avenue, so they had to go back down towards where the enemies had retreated. They were wide awake again at coming to the intersection, however.

The hideout was in flames, and Benn and Hayden were among the corpses lying in the street, hardly recognizable through blood and charred flesh. The front of the building was blown out like a grenade had exploded there, and a machine cog with a big red x over it had been spray painted on a part of the wall that had not been reduced to rubble.


	3. Maniacal Me

As David staggered around the intersection, searching through the rubble for survivors, the colors started to fade into a dull, gray haze. Even the blood pooling in the potholes in the street was a shiny black, sticky and filling the air with a harsh metallic scent.

The blind and optimistic hope David had felt the night before as he was reunited with his friends was gone, replaced by electric fear rushing down his spine and tingling his scalp. The masquerade was in flames, the shell of the hideout still burning from the bomb. Nothing was left but the cold, hard truth: death and destruction.

As he stood in the middle of the fray, surveying the damage around him, David felt the fear change to a burning rage. Andy came up behind him, placing his hand on David’s shoulder with tears in his eyes. David jumped and swung blindly, nearly punching Andy straight in the face before realizing that it was only him.

“Jesus, David!” Andy cried, flinching and bringing his arms up to cover his face.

“Sorry, sorry,” David replied, lowering his fist and dropping his head. “This is…” he trailed off, unable to find the right words. Andy just nodded. There was nothing else to say.


	4. Memories of a Broken Heart

After helping the injured and dragging the dead out of the intersection, the survivors from the attack gathered together, uncertain and afraid. Most of them were no older than twenty, kids with guns in battle armor. With their hideout demolished, no one knew what to do, and they all looked to Andy, Brent, Brandon, and David. The four boys swallowed their fear, looking at the small crowd gathered around them; they were what was left, and they would have to survive – or die trying.

It became clear that they could not stay, and they began to make plans to sneak through the battle field of the city streets, trying to make it to the hills. What used to be downtown was much too dangerous, so they would have to try their luck in the more suburban areas of the city. Unfortunately, the enemy had created a blockade running down the Miracle Mile, what used to be the old highway. They had set up snipers on the bridge over the bay, so anyone attempting to leave the city and flee north would be shot. David had come from the south, which was the last stronghold against the enemy, and thus he had been able to enter the city.

While the snipers were closer to the north and they wanted to head east, the highway still posed problems. If they could make it past that four lane road where they would essentially be sitting ducks, they would be home free. They decided to split up; Andy and Brandon would lead half the kids down Thames Street and David and Brent would take the other half down 8th so that they would be going towards the Miracle Mile parallel, close enough to come to the aid of the other group in case of a problem, but spread far enough apart that the two groups would be able to travel more safely.

Once they had debriefed everyone, Andy and David dismissed the kids, who dispersed to search for provisions in the rubble of the buildings; within ten minutes they reconvened and headed out. They only made it two blocks before bombs began to explode around them and the streets were filled with gunfire. A squadron of enemy soldiers poured down Main Street and engaged with David’s group, who took cover behind the rubble. Andy’s group was able to join them, returning fire as they stuck together, racing down 8th Street.

They never even made it to the freeway.


End file.
